For the 2007-2013 Programming period, 38 financial instruments were available in the whole Danube region, including grants, loans and guarantees. However, there were no special funds dedicated to Danube region projects. Projects approved and implemented during the 2007-2013 Programming period were being, in their majority, co-funded by the EC and national governments at different percentages. The funds were not equally distributed among the “pillars” of the Strategy or among countries from the region. Out of the 14 countries of the Danube Region, 9 are EU Member States and recipients of the EU’s major funding mechanism for macro-regional Structural Funds.
During the 2014-2020 Programming the present area of the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme is covered by two transnational programmes: Danube and South East Gateway (renamed later Adriatic-Ionian).
These two programmes support the development and implementation of two Macro Regional Strategies: Danube and Adriatic-Ionian Regions.
Danube Transnational Programme
The Danube Transnational Programme is a financing instrument of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC), better known as Interreg. ETC is one of the goals of the European Union cohesion policy and provides a framework for the implementation of joint actions and policy exchanges between national, regional and local actors from different Member States.
The Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) promotes economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Danube Region through policy integration in selected fields.
In order to achieve a higher degree of territorial integration of the very heterogeneous Danube region, the transnational cooperation programme acts as a policy driver and pioneer to tackle common challenges and needs in specific policy fields where transnational cooperation is expected to deliver tangible results.
Considering its geographical coverage, this highly complex programme provides a political dimension to transnational cooperation which is unique in Europe, successfully facing challenges such as ensuring good mechanisms to contract partners who receive funding from different EU instruments.
The Danube Transnational Programme finances projects for the development and practical implementation of policy frameworks, tools and services and concrete small-scale pilot investments. Strong complementarities with the broader EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) are sought.
Budget
The total programme budget is 262 989 839 million euros, including the EU support (221 924 597,00 €) and the national counterpart (41 065 242,00 €).
The EU support comes from three different funds:
- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (202 095 405,00 €)
- Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance II (IPA II) (19 829 192,00 €)
- European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) (tbd)
Selected projects are financed up to 85% of their costs.The Danube Transnational Programme (2014-2020) is built around four thematic priority axes:
- Innovative and socially responsible Danube region
- Environment and culture responsible Danube region
- Better connected and energy responsible Danube region
- Well-governed Danube region
Technical Assistance is available for the Coordinators of the Priority Areas via the Danube Strategy Point.
For more information please visit:
http://www.interreg-danube.eu/
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/
